kleinbl00 mk You guys need to step back and look at this in perspective. A vote leave does not mean live immediately. Its a non binding vote to initiate the process of trying to leave the EU. The vote won by 1-2% so not exactly a resounding victory. What you are going to see next is people preparing and making motions to leave. This will cause all sorts of panic and uncertainty in the financial markets and trigger swift corrections in the British economy. The process in general will be very painful. Unemployment will go up, the pound will crash, prices on imports will go up, EU member countries will refuse further negotiations and all sorts of doom and gloom talk will happen. How long do you really think that 2% Brexit margin will hold? 3 months? 6 months? In less than a year after the people have suffered a little bit there will be a second referendum that will "Restore Britain to its former glory" or some other bullshit and will likely undo the first vote and may even strengthen European participation in the union. The Greek bailout referendum is a good examples of what happens when you have referendums that go against established political will. Another good example is the The Treaty of Lisbon which was rejected by a dutch referendum but was subsequently backdoored into a series of smaller treaties. Like kleinbl00 pointed out a successful brexit will take years and a ton of political capital and this is just the first step of a long and hard process. I could be wrong but I just don't see this going that far.
True, it's only been hours. And I have been a bit histrionic about it, but I have watched my former home (Hungary) turn into a pseudo-nazi state over the last 10 years, and so have some experience-based fear here... Plus, the "perspective" you are touting is the British one. What about the other side? Britain has just spit in the face of every single European nation, essentially called them morons and dupes, and told them "we don't need you." Can you fathom the indignation in France, Spain, Germany, Italy? If I were a British tourist heading to the Mediterranean this year, I would cancel my plans NOW. The people there are not going to be happy to open their doors to a bunch of superior assholes who were superior assholes before, but at least pretended not to be. Businesses throughout Europe accepted the Pound and the Euro. Will they still? With the Pound tanking, just tell the pasty English twit to go get Euros instead, and come back. I think the legal aspects of the separation will take a decade, will be a complete clusterfuck, and people will stop doing business with Britain due to the constantly changing rules, and that Brits will be unwelcome in EU states. People may even be openly hostile to them. Jeeze... the Brits just managed to make German tourists look good! Ouch. You guys need to step back and look at this in perspective.
What about the other side? Fair enough I myself didn't step far enough back either. I guess I dont really see Britain as a nation that produces much other than financial services but I think that perspective might be a bit skewed. How will this affect other European nations? I dont really have much perspective on this. Can you fathom the indignation in France, Spain, Germany, Italy? That's not really true but that might be how its spun. Rejecting the unelected officials who run the EU in Brussels isn't really the same as rejecting individual nations. A lot of people in other countries are unhappy with the EU as well so maybe they will be sympathetic.Plus, the "perspective" you are touting is the British one.
Britain has just spit in the face of every single European nation, essentially called them morons and dupes, and told them "we don't need you."
'k... Uhhh... here's what I said: The world will not end. Dogs and cats will not sleep together. HOWEVER a whole bunch of people who firmly believe they have better shit to do are now going to have to burn a shit ton of blood and treasure on treaties and trade agreements and boring shit like that while the rest of the world aren't. If you're going to accuse someone of losing perspective, perhaps you should champion a position more moderated than them, rather than less.kleinbl00 mk You guys need to step back and look at this in perspective.
What you are going to see next is people preparing and making motions to leave. This will cause all sorts of panic and uncertainty in the financial markets and trigger swift corrections in the British economy. The process in general will be very painful. Unemployment will go up, the pound will crash, prices on imports will go up, EU member countries will refuse further negotiations and all sorts of doom and gloom talk will happen.
Hey man dont get defensive. Im agreeing with pretty much everything you said here. By step back I mean back from just looking as brexit being something that is a done deal that will require burning of immediate resources. Internal political capital will be wasted immediately but the vote that has concequneces and starts more serious talks doesn't mean an immediate break from the EU or renegotiation of agreements. I may have come out too apocalyptic, that was not my intent. I only meant that a lot of the consequences of brexit will become immediately obvious through some of of the forms I mentioned while many of the gains would only be realized years down the road if brexit actually got completed out.If you're going to accuse someone of losing perspective, perhaps you should champion a position more moderated than them, rather than less.
Well there is plenty of reason to worry. The brexit vote set in motion a chain of events that nobody can really guess the consequences of. That's a pretty reasonable reason to worry. When looking at the event itself its easy to get tunnel vision and see this as a final event instead of beginning in a chain of events that can be reversed or end up an completely different outcome. I think just as interesting will be to see what happens to some of the other less happy countries in the EU and see if they follow suit. As it stands the EU is unstable and will either fall apart or have to be bound toughener in a stronger union. IMO both outcomes are equally as likely so its hard to guess where things will go.